Alleged smuggling of Bugatti cars prompts call for Senate probe

This photo shows a Bugatti Chiron sports car. On Monday, March 11, 2024, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said he filed a resolution last week, calling for a probe into the alleged smuggling of two Bugatti Chiron sports cars “in the hope of addressing revenue leakage due to the illegal entry of luxury cars into the country.” | PHOTO: Bureau of Customs

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has asked the Senate to investigate the alleged smuggling of two Bugatti Chiron sports cars “in the hope of addressing revenue leakage due to the illegal entry of luxury cars into the country.”

The inquiry is being proposed through his Senate Resolution No. 954, filed last week, to adopt corrective legislation to end fancy automobile smuggling.

The subjects of the impending  probe were a blue Bugatti with license plate NIM 5448 and a red Bugatti with license plate NIM 5450, which reportedly managed to enter the  country “without going through regular customs clearance.”

The two sports cars were reportedly valued at P165 million each, without customs duties and taxes.

At 50 percent excise tax, however,  the government should have collected P165 million from importing the two vehicles, Gatchalian pointed out.

READ: Fancy a Bugatti Chiron? P365M per if legally imported

“Hindi natin dapat pinapalusot ang mga ganitong gawain dahil malaking kabawasan ito sa buwis na dapat nakokolekta ng gobyerno na kailangan natin para maipatupad ang mga proyekto na magpapalakas sa ekonomiya at magpapaunlad sa mga Pilipino,”  he said  in a statement on Monday.

(We should not allow such actions to go unpunished because they significantly reduce the taxes that the government should be collecting, which we need to implement projects that will strengthen the economy and uplift Filipinos.)

Gatchalian said the Senate probe likewise seeks to end the outright smuggling of luxury sports cars into the country by introducing remedial legislation.

“There is a need to determine the lapses and loopholes in government processes that lead to the continuous persistence of outright smuggling of luxury items in the country, including cars, that deprives the government of much-needed revenues and poses a serious and great threat to the national economy,”  states Senate Resolution No. 954.

“Based on the foregoing, it is necessary for the government to assess the scale of car smuggling in the country; enhance border control measure[s]; and deploy cutting-edge methods and technologies to combat luxury car smuggling,” it also says.